Govt readies major reform push for Winter Session

The government is set to introduce draft legislations for initiating new generation reforms in atomic energy, higher education, insurance, the security markets and to ease land acquisition for highways, in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament, starting December 1.
The Atomic Energy Bill, 2025, probably the most consequential one, aims to open up India’s highly restricted nuclear power generation to the private sector. Among the others, the Markets Code Bill will seek to consolidate multiple existing securities laws into a single comprehensive code.
Additionally, the Higher Education Commission of India Bill will aim to set up a single ‘light but tight’ regulatory regime in education; and the Insurance Laws Amendment Bill would be looking to deepen penetration and push sectoral development.
In total, 10 bills are listed with the overarching theme of reforms and opening up of new sectors. Of these, the Jan Vishwas (Amendment) Bill, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill have already been introduced and are currently being examined by parliamentary panels.
The Centre is also bringing the politically sensitive Constitution 131st Amendment Bill, which seeks to bring the Union Territory of Chandigarh under Article 240 of the Constitution, like several other UTs.
Chandigarh is currently administered by the Punjab governor, and with the new law, it is likely to be administered by an independent administrator.
Chandigarh is currently administered by the Punjab governor. With the new law, it would have similar administration rules such as Lakshadweep and others, and could have an independent administrator.
To repeal as many as 120 obsolete laws, a specifically drafted Repealing and Amending Bill has also been listed for introduction in the Winter Session. These laws have served their purpose and need to be repealed from the statute book.
A bill to ensure faster and transparent land acquisition for national highways — titled National High-ways (Amendment) Bill —is also on the agenda. The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill has been listed to amend Arbitration Act 1926.
Meanwhile, the government has called for an all-party meeting on November 30 to build consensus and ensure the smooth operation of the Winter Session of Parliament.